>First tier=Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, possibly The
>Aviator (only one of these movies I haven't seen multiple
>times.)

that actually might be his most underrated (amongst "film heads" @ least)

as my man O_E would say, "maybe it wasn't 'dark' enough"

i think it's hands down his most technically ambitious + accomplished (the art direction, the costumes, the color tricks w/ the cinematography to emulate the early 30's look, using scale models for the planes in lieu of CGI after the 'pearl harbor' debacle) as well as his most mainstream-accessible (his first $100M gross -- as much as geeks like us love MS, TD + RB, those are the type of films most "normal" ppl only need to see once)

excellent work by cate + leo d, maybe the 2 most talented actors of their generation (great characterization that never dips into mere imitation, which is always tough to avoid when you're playing a real person), as well as beckinsale, alda, baldwin + reilly in support

i put it right behind the trinity (RB, GF, TD) in the marty hierarchy, -- it's obviously tough to even compare it to those films b/c it's so vastly different in tone (being an ode to golden-age hollywood) but imo it more than measures up in its own way

@ any rate, it's a FAR superior film to casino